Towel Day
by JDPhoenix
Summary: Holiday Chaos 5 Tommy has to make up for his mistake but the presence of his fellow Rangers makes it a bit more difficult.


_Summary: A serious moment on a not so serious day. Along with lots of craziness._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

_AN: I love Douglas Adams' books and do not seek to diminish his impact on millions of lives with his story. But let's face it: the books were all about the funny and all references to the holiday are meant to be seen as such. Oh! And golf is a card game where you play nine hands and want the lowest score—hence the name. It's my all time favorite card game._

Towel Day

By JDPhoenix

Tommy, Rocky, Adam, and Jason all stood aimlessly around Tommy's jeep. It was parked on the dirt road at the edge of Tommy's property and they could just see the house and Jason's truck through the trees.

"I still can't believe it took you this long," Rocky said, grabbing a soda from the cooler in the back seat.

"We're Rangers," Jason said, "normal people make up fast, we have to consider the possibility that the entire fight was part of an evil alien's plan for global conquest—"

"But Tommy's just been going to school to torture students and then lazing on our couch for the past six days," Rocky cut in.

"—investigate the possibility—" Jason continued.

Adam asked, "Wasn't that how the whole Forever Red thing started?"

"—and of course wait for our wives to cool down because they can kill us."

Adam and Rocky nodded, seeming to accept this part of Jason's reasoning.

"All right," Tommy said, "I'm ready."

"You sure, man?" Adam asked. "Because Trini's still in there."

"She won't get in his way," Jason said. "I think."

Tommy ignored them and began walking towards his house.

"Dude!" Rocky yelled, exasperated.

Tommy turned, only to have a bright green towel hit him in the face. He groaned and marched on, the towel draped over his shoulder.

Jason grabbed a soda. "I still can't believe you made us stop at Wal-Mart to buy towels."

"Color-coded towels," Rocky amended.

Jason shook his head. It was true: he had red, Tommy had green, Adam had black, and Rocky had blue.

"Do you think he'll survive?" Adam asked.

"Maybe," Jason said.

"Of course he will," Rocky said, "he has his towel."

* * *

"You can do this, Oliver," Tommy whispered as he walked up the driveway. He had originally thought taking Andros' old house—Ashley had insisted on moving permanently to the Megaship after Forever Red—would be great. The house already had a secret chamber and tons of security and it was out of the way for when the forces of evil inevitably stopped by for the honor of killing him. But now, the long driveway was very, very long. 

"It's just Kim," he told himself. "She loves you. You love her. Just because you rushed into marriage, that doesn't change how you feel about each other."

He paused just before the front steps and began pacing. "And anyway, she left me. And she kicked me out of my own house. What does she have to be angry about? Just because I didn't use her stupid color?"

Sadly, when he entered the house several minutes later and found Kimberly, Trini, and Kira sitting on the floor of the living room he only said the second half of that speech.

"'Stupid color'?" Kim demanded, rising to her feet. "This coming from the guy whose entire house is decorated as a testament to his Ranger days?"

"Oh please! I don't have any choice! The second you start wearing the uniform that color gets ingrained in your brain! Everyone knows that! And anyway, there was no need for a Pink Ranger."

"Ah!" Kim and Kira's cries of indignation hit Tommy in surround sound. He glanced quickly at Trini and was momentarily panic-stricken by the look on her face. She obviously thought he was in trouble.

Kira—being the louder of the two girls—managed to be heard first. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to be the only girl around four guys?"

"Yeah," Kim said, "think about how hard that must have been on poor Kira."

"You leave Kira out of this!" Tommy yelled. "And anyway," he said to Kira, "you had Hayley and Cassidy."

Trini grabbed Kira's hand and pulled her behind the rust-red armchair. Things were about to get ugly.

"Oh, I see how it is," Kim said, "Hayley made up for the lack of a Pink Ranger."

"Yes!" Tommy said, glad she finally understood.

Kim nodded—and promptly smacked Tommy's arm. "So why don't you go marry your substitute Pink?"

Tommy gaped as Kim stormed out of the room and up the stairs.

"Tommy?" Trini asked, standing up.

"What, Trini?"

"Go after your wife."

Tommy felt where Kim had hit him, not taking his eyes off of where she had been. His eyes flashed and he marched up the steps. The towel fell on the banister, but he paid it no mind. He was on a mission.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Kira asked.

"Yeah, they'll be fine. Why don't you go get the guys?"

"Guys?"

"They should be waiting just out of sight—by the car in case Tommy needs to make a hasty getaway."

Kira nodded and ran out of the house.

* * *

"Kim?" Tommy asked quietly as he pushed the bedroom door open. 

"Go away." Kim was sitting on the far edge of the bed, facing the window. Her back was to him, but her shoulders were hunched and he could tell she was crying even though she kept the quaver out of her voice.

"No," Tommy said firmly.

Kim jumped a bit at his tone. It wasn't the one he had used to order monsters around—that one was more of a challenge, nor the one to order the team—that was more good-natured. This was a fact. He was not going to leave her.

"You are my wife," he continued. "I know we didn't have the most traditional marriage ceremony, but neither is our relationship. And none of that changes the fact that we are married. We are bound to each other for the rest of our lives and I am not about to leave you—or let you leave me for that matter—over some stupid color scheme." He hurried on before she could argue. "I know it's important. I thought of a thousand reasons why I didn't make a Pink Ranger: I was angry, two teams had survived without a Pink already, since most sixth Rangers just show up there was no point to go out of my way to make one when I already had five, two girls could gang up on four guys easily, it goes on and on. But the real reason is—I was afraid."

As he talked Tommy had slowly come around the side of the bed and knelt down beside Kim on the floor. Now he took her hand and she looked at him.

"I was afraid of watching those battles and _not_ seeing some high school girl getting beaten by a monster—but of seeing you in her place. I had made this team so much like the original that I wouldn't have been able to help thinking of you every time she suited up. When we were kids I could convince myself that everything would be okay. But now I know that we might not always win, and I knew my overprotective nature where you were concerned would show back up. And you know what, Kim?" he asked, wiping a tear from her cheek. "I didn't want to remember all those times. I didn't want to remember being afraid for you."

Kim smiled and bent down to kiss him.

"I'm sorry—for kicking you out," she said when she pulled away a moment later.

"Don't worry about it. I had fun with the boys."

"Not as much fun as you're going to have here." Kim pulled Tommy onto the bed and that is all that will be said of that.

* * *

A crash echoed down the stairs. 

Rocky asked worriedly, "Do you think they're making up?"

"Of course they are," Trini said calmly.

"But how do you know?"

"No yelling," Jason said. "And here's a jack for your troubles."

"Thank you," Rocky said pleasantly, taking the card from the pile. Jason winced as Rocky continued, he hadn't wanted Rocky to _need_ the high card. "But what was that crash if they are—"

"How are you liking New York, Kira?" Adam asked quickly, eager to change the subject.

"It's nice. Trent and I have a loft. And when I say 'Trent and I have a loft,'" she added hastily, "I mean his dad is paying for a loft for each of us in the same building with the condition that should we ever decide to marry we will both be virgins."

"And he actually thinks you're both going to live up to that?" Jason asked.

"He used to be the leader of an evil movement to conquer the Earth and reinstate dinosaurs as the dominant life forms," Kira deadpanned. "I'm not about to incur his wrath."

"You are the most boring teenagers," Rocky said.

"As opposed to what?" Trini asked. "Us? They saved the world on a daily basis; let them have some normal. Heaven knows we could all use more."

"A lot more," Adam said, his eyes going wide.

Rocky, who was sitting beside him, was grinning like an idiot and saying, "That's right, man."

Kira turned to see what they were looking at, but was stopped halfway by Trini.

"What?" Kira asked, disappointed.

Trini tried not to laugh as she said, "I can see it in the window and trust me—you don't want to."

"See what?"

"Tommy's naked," Jason said. He had yet to look up from his cards and Kira seriously began to wonder how many crazy adventures they had gone on to reach the point where one of them knew instinctively which one was naked. She vowed to retire to one of those small, simple, hopefully very boring, Midwest towns one mission before that.

"Not anymore," Tommy snapped, coming into the kitchen. The green towel he had dropped earlier was around his waist. "And what do you people think you're doing here?"

"We're playing golf," Jason said.

"Wanna join?" Adam asked.

"Told you the towel would come in handy," Rocky said, a self-satisfied smile on his face.

"This is my house!" Tommy yelled. "I should be able to walk around naked in it!"

"Not when you obviously have company," Trini said, shaking her head.

Kimberly's squeal filled the room. "Ooh! Golf! Deal me in next hand!" She slid into a chair between Kira and Adam. Adam stupidly looked down to make sure she could fit in okay and found that Kimberly was wearing what appeared to be nothing but one of Tommy's shirts. Adam received a growl from Tommy and quickly jumped into a seat on the other side of Rocky. Tommy took his old seat as Trini dealt the cards.

"So you two are okay now?" Kira asked, keeping her eyes on the deck.

"Yeah, we're okay," Kim said.

Tommy added, "I had to promise to make the Pink Ranger first if I ever decide to make another team, but other than that everything's back to normal."

"Normal?" Adam asked.

"Oh, come on, we're not that abormal," Tommy said, laying his cards out in front of him facedown.

"Tommy," Jason said gently, "you once almost killed a girl scout because you thought she was an alien assassin."

"A girl scout?" Kim asked, torn between offence and humor.

"It could happen," Tommy said calmly.

"Whatever you say, Tommy. But I'm handling the door to door salesmen from now on."

"Oh, no! You'll buy anything!"

"I will not!"

"The Hart X1000."

"That was a useful surveillence tool!"

"It was a scope to strap onto your rifle to help when you go out hunting deer! You do not have a rifle and you do not hunt anything!"

Rocky shook his head as the Olivers took their argument into the kitchen. "We're never getting our house back, are we?"

"You never know," Trini said, turning over a card, "they could make up quickly."

"They already are," Jason said. He was busy choosing which card to play.

"How do you do that?" Kira asked, trying to block out the sounds coming from the kitchen.

"You don't want to know," Adam supplied.

* * *

_AN: The next one's Flag Day. _

_Review! Otherwise how do I know if you read it all or not?_


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